The Toddler Chronicles
by AnotherGirlWithAStory
Summary: "You're really cute, you know that, right?" Sirius didn't know if Harry laughed or if he even smiled on purpose but it sure looked like it. He leaned down to kiss the top of Harry's head and then leaned back onto the couch. "I love you kid." [Will contain stories/ moments with babies/ toddlers/ children].
1. Cuddles

**Title** : Cuddles

 **Characters** : Sirius Black, Harry Potter, James Potter and Lily Evans Potter.

 **Pairing** : Mention of Lily x James.

 **AN** : Birthday Fic number two!

So, I hate it when people write stuff that makes it sound as if people are bad parents. That is not what I'm trying to do. I am, however, trying to convey that being a parent is damn hard and that at some point you are going to wonder if that little "bundle of joy" is messing with your psyche for the fun of it! Interesting piece of information for you, skin-to-skin contact with babies increases the oxytocin (feel-good hormones) levels and it decreases levels of cortisol (stress hormones). Sometimes this works but sometimes it doesn't. I can't say this for sure but I imagine that this might not work if the person trying is stressed due to the heartbeat being faster in comparison to if your calm. I'm imagining that Harry is like two or three weeks old or something when this takes place.

 **Word Count** : 1, 392

* * *

Harry was screaming. That was the first thing that Sirius noticed when he walked inside the house at Godric's Hollow. Harry was screaming his little head of while his parents were doing their absolute best to sooth him. James' hair looked messier than normal and he had dark rings underneath those hazel-brown eyes. Sirius thought he looked as if he was seconds from begging the baby to stop crying. Lily's red hair was pushed back in a ponytail, it looked like it hadn't been washed for a long time and judging by the way she kept massaging her temple, while James paced the floor with Harry in his arms, Sirius guessed that she was experiencing a terrible headache.

"You need help." Sirius stated as he walked inside the house and went to greet his best friend with his arms open.

"Pads, Padfoot, Sirius, my friend," James said. He sounded exhausted and Sirius wanted to laugh out loud. "You are my hero. Please, I beg of you to take this monster that I love more than life itself and remove him out of my presence."

As soon as Sirius had stepped out of the hug James handed their small baby, who was still crying, to Sirius whom held him against his chest. The man with the raven-coloured hair and hazel eyes hurried up the stairs towards his bedroom quicker than you could have said quidditch while Lily hesitated for a few moments. Eventually Sirius smiled at her and gestured towards the stairs from where they could both hear the sound of the shower running.

"This is what I'm here for," he said. Lily's anxious facial expression turned into a soft smile. "Go ahead love, you both need to take a shower and get some sleep. I'll fix us something to eat when you wake up."

Lily crossed the room and stood on her toes to be able to kiss his forehead. Sirius had never seen anyone look as grateful as the young woman did in that moment. "Thank you so much Sirius."

She leaned down to kiss the screaming baby. Sirius almost hoped that some kind of miracle would take place, for Lily and James, and that Harry magically would stop crying. But he didn't. He was startled and cried lower for a moment but the volume soon rose again and Lily let out an exhausted sigh.

"Go," Sirius repeated and waved towards the stairs once more. Lily raised her hands and backed away from him. "I've got mister Grumpy."

He stood still while listening to Lily walk up the stairs. As soon as the sound disappeared he looked down at the crying child. His little face was red and scrunched together, angry tears fell down and he waved his tiny fists back and forth as if he was objecting to being in this world. Sirius could almost imagine him saying that he did not approve of this place which he had been forced into. His raven-coloured hair reminded him of James but the eyes, Sirius had seen them once, were all Lily.

"So, what's wrong little one?" he asked in a low tone of voice. "What's gotten you all worked up huh?"

Harry screamed as if he didn't listen or as if Sirius words meant very little to him. Sirius didn't know which one it was but he assumed that it could be both. Sirius didn't have much experience with babies. In fact, he had no experience what so ever excluding the first time he saw Harry. But he did have a lot of experience with James and he hoped that would somehow help. Puppies, he thought, he had a lot of experience with puppies. Maybe that would help? Babies and puppies were pretty much the same. They were small and defenceless; the only difference was that one was hairy and bit you while the other had less hair and didn't bite yet. But both cried when upset; they just sounded very different from each other.

"You kind of look like your grandfather," while holding Harry with one arm Sirius somehow managed to get the other arm out of his jacket, and then the other, before throwing the leather jacket on a chair. "His name was Fleamont Potter. I know that it's a funny name but you shouldn't judge okay. He was a great man that one. Took me in when I had run away from my parents at the age of sixteen. You're lucky like that kiddo, you've got two amazing parents who loves you and will do anything to protect you. You should cut them some slack."

Sirius sat down on the couch with his legs together and leaning in an angle which allowed him to rest Harry against them. It was hard, if not impossible, to tell whether Harry enjoyed it or not. He was screaming as much as he did before.

"I wonder if this is Lily's genetics making an appearance or if it's James," Sirius continued even if Harry didn't particularly seem to enjoy listening to him talk. "It's really tough to say little one. For future references it might be good for you to know this; your parents are so stubborn. It would be impossible to tell who's the most stubborn out of the two. Maybe this is the world's way of getting back at them; by giving them a child who is more stubborn than they are. That would be a little funny, don't you think?"

Baby Harry probably didn't agree. Sirius sighed deeply. "Level with me little buddy. Are you hungry? Are you tired? Do you want… Oh."

Sirius didn't hesitate for one second about taking his shirt of and held Harry against his chest. At first, he kept crying as intensely as he had moments before but as Sirius began soothingly rubbing his back the cries turned to whimpers and the whimpers eventually turned to slow breathing. Harry's head rested not far from where the sound of Sirius heart would be loudest.

"Why didn't you just tell me that you wanted cuddles?" Sirius ask in a whispering, soothing tone of voice. "You should have told your parents too little man, language barriers or not, because they have been going crazy trying their best to take care of you."

Harry whimpered and Sirius bit his lower lip not to laugh.

"I'm not blaming you kid, no need to take it personally, but I'm just saying that this could have been solved a lot quicker if you would have told them," he waited for another sound from Harry but nothing happened. Sirius took a deep breath and adjusted his position so that he laid more comfortably. "Your parents really are amazing. I know that you're going to love them when you grow up. But if you ever feel like they just don't get anything or you want to get away from them when you're older; then you know where to come. Because my door will always be open for you, no matter what the future brings."

Sirius tilted his head and got a clear view of Harry's emerald green eyes. He looked straight ahead of himself but when Sirius had tilted his head far enough to the side he glanced up at his godfather. It felt like someone grabbed a hold of his heart. That was the best way to describe what was going on inside his body at that specific moment. For a moment it felt like Sirius was going to melt into a puddle. He didn't know if he believed in love at first sight. He had fallen in love, that was not the reason behind it. He was head over heels in love with Penny. But it was a love which had grown from friendship. Sirius had never loved someone the moment he saw them. Until Harry. Because from the first moment Sirius saw him, he realised there wasn't anything he wouldn't do to keep him protected from the dangers of the world. And he was reminded of it every time he saw his godson.

"You're really cute, you know that, right?" Sirius didn't know if Harry laughed or if he even smiled on purpose but it sure looked like it. He leaned down to kiss the top of Harry's head and then leaned back onto the couch. "I love you kid."

 **The end**


	2. The Strength of a Possessive-

**Title** : The Strength of a Possessive Seven-Year Old

 **Characters** : Harry Potter, Sirius Black, James Potter, Lily Potter nee Evans and Daisy Potter.

 **Word Count** : 1, 654

 **AN** : This is very much AU! I got this idea when writing another birthday fic and I couldn't not write this one. James and Lily didn't die in this one. Since it's canon (to my knowledge) that Lily was pregnant when she died I'm giving Harry a sister whom is two years younger which I, after a lot of agonising, named Daisy.

* * *

Sirius was imaginative. When someone knocked on the door his mind presented him with various different options regarding who it could be. He even imagined that it was a werewolf – not Remus – standing outside to offer him a position in their travelling resistance group. But he did not expect to see a short boy with raven-coloured hair, round and red cheeks, emerald green eyes and glasses which he was in the midst of pushing further up his nose when Sirius opened. He was messily dressed with the buttons on his jacket having ended up in the wrong hole. He wore wellies which were muddy and he wore pants which were clearly too large for him. But what caught Sirius attention was his tiny trunk.

"Hey Harry." Sirius himself had just gotten out of bed and carried a cup of tea in his hand.

The hair on his arms stood up as the freezing hair hit his naked chest and he rubbed his other arm to try and keep some heat. His hair was pushed back in a ponytail, at least it used to be a ponytail but with the amount of hair that had gotten lose he really didn't know if you could call it that anymore.

"Mummy and daddy are bad to me, I've run away from home," he said while pouting. "Can I live here?"

Sirius wanted to laugh but decided against it based on the look on his godson's face. To Harry this was a grave matter indeed and he probably wouldn't take too kindly to Sirius laughing at him or the issue. Instead of saying anything Sirius opened the door and gestured for Harry to walk inside; which he did with his trunk in his hand.

"Did you have breakfast before you ran away?" Sirius asked once he had closed the door and followed Harry inside.

The young boy had already taken his wellies of and were tearing at his jacket. Just like when he was at home the clothes ended up lying in a mess on the floor. If Castor and Pollux had been home then their clothes would be lying not far from there. Harry stopped as he was about to push the wellies closer to the wall and looked up at his godfather with a look of disbelief.

"Of course, I did," he answered and shrugged. "Who runs away without having breakfast first?"

Any doubts of him being James son vanished right then and there. That was the first thought that struck him the second was that Sirius could have told Harry that he did. Sirius ran away after not having eaten anything that entire day. But the lack of food wasn't the reason for him running away and Harry probably wasn't old enough for that story yet. Sirius walked over to Harry and patted his shoulder.

"Why don't you go to the kitchen anyway. I imagine that running away has made you hungry again; I think it's time for second breakfast. What do you think?"

"Where's Castor and Pollux?"

"Penny and the boys went to India a few days ago to spend some time with her family. I had to stay back and work," Sirius wanted to laugh when he saw the way the smile fell from Harry's face. "I hope you're fine with spending time with only me?"

Harry only pondered it for a few seconds. "I'm definitely fine with that."

"Good," Sirius bent down to run his fingers through Harry's raven-coloured hair. "You can head to the kitchen. I'll be right there."

He watched as his godson disappeared out of view and thanked whatever power there was that they had two house elves who could make sure that Harry didn't end up getting in trouble. He tried to imagine what kind of panic James and Lily would be in now. Who would be the most panicky and who would try to take control of the situation? Who would figure out that Harry probably went to him or Remus; James or Lily? Sirius soon sat down on his bed with a special mirror in his hand. When James face appeared on the other side Sirius laughed out loud.

"You look a little panicky there, Prongs," he commented. Hopefully Lily was calmer than her husband. "What's going on?"

Either James didn't listen or he didn't care enough to answer. "Is Harry with you?"

"Yeah, he's here," Sirius laughed again once James released a deep breath while muttering that he knew it under his breath and then he called out for Lily. He ran his hand through his raven-coloured hair and rubbed his hazel eyes with his fingertips. "Apparently his parents have been bad to him. I figured that even if that was true, you should know where he is."

James laughed when he laid down with one arm under his head.

"I'm not surprised. The kid's been through absolute hell," The sarcasm was practically oozing from the raven-haired man whom tilted his head upwards and glanced to the door seconds later. "I'm talking to Sirius… Harry's with him."

"How did he get all the way to Sirius?" Lily asked from where she stood out of view. James shrugged. "Could you ask him?"

James looked back at the mirror and raised an eyebrow as if asking if Sirius had heard what she asked.

"I didn't ask," Sirius shrugged. "I'll ask while I make him breakfast."

"He's already eaten though."

"Why do you say that as if that makes any difference?" James voice lured out a bark-sounding laughter from Sirius whom looked at his best friend while shaking his head. "I offered him a second breakfast. Would you have turned down a second breakfast?"

"Of course not, I'm not stupid and neither is my son. Harry is a very intelligent boy," James scooted to the side and a girl came down to lie next to him. Her eyes were hazel just like his and she had the same raven-coloured hair. "Just like you're a really intelligent girl. Daisy, why don't you tell uncle Padfoot what you did which resulted in your brother running away?"

Both children looked like their father. But there were undoubtable signs which made it clear that there were bits and pieces from Lily in them too. Daisy had her gracefulness. It was something about the way she moved, even at the age of five, which made it look as if she had everything planned out. That was as accurate for when she danced ballet, which she did twice a month, as it was for when she ran head first into the woods to explore; which she did a lot with Harry either running in front of her or flying above her. The pouty face, which appeared the moment James asked her to tell Sirius what had happened, was all Lily too.

"Well, Harry said that his godfather was better than mine," she said slowly while fidgeting with her fingers and only occasionally looked up to face Sirius. "So, I said that I wanted to change. Harry got angry with me and said that –"

The sound of Lily interrupted her and Daisy clumsily threw a raspberry kiss towards him. "Mummy is calling me. Bye Pads."

"Bye Daisy," Sirius did the same thing back. He looked at James the entire time while his hazel eyes followed his daughter, then there was a sound of the door closing and Sirius raised an eyebrow as if to ask if she was still in the room. When James shook his head, Sirius began laughing. "They were fighting over me?"

James nodded and somehow managed to keep himself from laughing. "I learned something new about my son today Padfoot. And the worst part is that I'm not really shocked either because I'm pretty sure that he gets this particular trait from me."

"Which trait is that?"

Sirius watched as James took a deep breath and held his hand up as if he was preparing himself. "That boy, currently in your custody is the most possessive seven-year-old I have ever met in my entire life. I'm not even joking. I thought for sure that he was going to send Daisy away, as in out of the country, when she said that she wanted you to be her godfather too."

"Awe, that's so cute." Sirius couldn't help but say as he laughed louder than before at the sight of James whose facial expression had gone from amused to not so amused.

"It's not cute," James tried to tell him with a straight face but it was apparent that he was struggling. "You should never underestimate the strength of a possessive seven-year-old. Especially not if that kid is Harry James Potter. Stubbornness runs in his veins."

"Yeah, yeah…" Sirius said while waving his hands as if trying to get rid of a particularly annoying fly. "What did you and Lily do that was so awful?"

James snorted and rolled his eyes. "We suggested that he and Daisy share you."

Again, Sirius was hit not with the desire but with the need to laugh out loud. His entire body shook from happiness that he was unable to contain and his stomach was starting to hurt.

"Yeah, you laugh but Harry did not like that idea one bit."

"I'm sorry Prongs. I've just never had tiny people fight over me before. It's an entirely new and very flattering situation even if it may be hard for you to deal with," Sirius wiped away tears that had run down his cheeks. "Look, I need to fix Harry his second breakfast. How about you guys come by tonight and pick him up?"

James let out a deep sigh. "That would be great. Thanks mate."

"No worries Prongs," Sirius heard Harry call for him and he saluted his friend with two fingers. "Now if you excuse me, I need to face the wrath of the possessive seven-year-old."

 **The end**


	3. Nightly Chats

**Title** : Nightly Chats

 **Characters** : Euphemia Potter, Fleamont Potter & James Potter.

 **Pairings** : Euphemia x Fleamont

 **AN** : Written for [Event] Mother's Day 2018 at The Golden Snitch.

[School]: Durmstrang

[House]: Rodopi

[Prompt/ Mother]: Euphemia Potter. Minimum 500 words, maximum 2, 000.

 **Word Count** : 1, 404

* * *

Two months. Euphemia Potter had been a mother for two months and she was absolutely knackered. She could practically feel the bags under her eyes dig deeper into her pale skin as the days progressed with James not really seeing the point of sleeping during the night when the days were so much better. She knew that it hadn't been that long since she washed her black, long hair but the memory of the event was so vague that a part of her believed that it had been months. She blamed her confusion on breast feeding, she had heard from some healers that it was an actual thing. Sometimes she was so confused that she didn't remember having been pregnant even if it hadn't been that long since James was born. There was even a small bump left to remind her of the fact that she had once been pregnant. Not that she needed the bump to be reminded when James did that perfectly well himself.

Euphemia told herself that he was so much bigger than he had been when they took him home from St Mungo's Hospital but didn't know if that was really the case. He had probably grown a little bit but a lot? Maybe that depended on what a lot meant. Either way, she loved looking at him and she loved holding him. His little head laid in the corner of her arm which she supported against a pillow. Her other arm and hand rested against the side of his body and her legs were stretched out in front of her. She had known, when she was still pregnant, that this chair would come in handy and she had been right. It was perfect for those long nights when James didn't want to sleep; those turned out to be more common than the ones when he wanted to sleep. She could rest her legs on the small footstool and thanks to the gigantic pillow that surrounded her, Euphemia's arms never grew tired even if she could spend hours just sitting there with James looking at her as if she was the most amazing thing that he had ever seen in his life.

"It's time that you and I have a serious chat," Euphemia spoke, her voice just above the tone of a whisper, and there was a soft but tired smile on her face. "I realise that you think that the days are for sleeping but you've got it all wrong. It's the other way around, darling. Darkness means that it's time to sleep and not that you should become all social and active all of the sudden. I promise that you'll love sleeping during the night too and we should try it tomorrow. What do you think about that plan?"

James, who had been born with a head full of raven coloured messy hair, looked at her as if she had been speaking a foreign language. Euphemia found herself giggling, she supposed that English was a foreign language to him. He started moving his legs and arms while making cooing sounds which was something that he had started doing much more often the past two weeks. Euphemia nodded as he 'spoke' and his lips twisted upwards in a toothless grin. After he became quiet, Euphemia nodded.

"I suppose I see your point," she mumbled with an amused tone in her voice. Another development of his was that he had started looking people in the eye so more often than before she got to look at his now hazel coloured brown eyes. She didn't know if he did it on purpose or if people's eyes just so happened to get in the way of what he really wanted to see. Either way, she loved it because the changes became so much more apparent. From the beginning, his eyes had been blue, almost grey, but the older he got the darker they became. "You're going to make all sorts of trouble when you grow up. Don't even try to deny it, darling. I can see it in your eyes."

 _They remind me of your father_. Euphemia thought those words so often but never said them out loud. Other people had told her that James looked just like his father. Fleamont didn't entirely agree.

* * *

"Are you telling me that you don't think that our son looks more like you than he does me?" Euphemia commented as they sat on the big couch in the living room, him with a book in his hand and her just having woken up from a nap. "Have you looked at him lately, Flea?"

The last sentence was said in a joking manner and she could feel his stomach vibrate as he let out a low chuckle. Her head rested against the end of the couch and her legs rested on his thighs, near his stomach. Fleamont had both arms behind him with one holding the book on his left side but when his wife asked him if he had looked at their son, he put the book on the couch next to him.

"It has been a while, now that you mention it… It was only a joke darling," he laughed when Euphemia nudged him with her leg and he moved his hands to rest them against her thighs. "I can see some similarities but I mostly think of you when I look at our son."

"Why?"

Fleamont hummed and absentmindedly began drumming on her legs in a calm manner. "It's the aura of mischievousness. You had that when we met and I just knew that you were going to get yourself, and me, in so much trouble."

Euphemia rolled her eyes. "Our memories must be really different then. Because if I remember correctly, you got in more than enough trouble without me helping you. I wasn't nearly as bad as you were."

Her husband laughed again and gave her that charming smile, with one side of his mouth more raised than the other, then he winked. "Keep telling yourself that darling."

* * *

Euphemia yawned and just seconds later James did the same. "Are you getting the hang of it?"

She knew that he couldn't understand her question but with an uncanny timing, James shook his head as if saying no, and Euphemia couldn't help but laugh. "That's okay love, we have time to work on it."

She leaned down and placed a tender kiss on his forehead. There had been so many moments when she doubted that she and Fleamont would ever become parents. They had tried for so long and nothing had happened. In her moments of darkness, Euphemia couldn't help but blame herself for waiting until she was so old. She should have had children earlier. Occasionally, those bitter feelings escaped the safe corners of her mind in the form of heavy words in the middle of the nights for Fleamont to hear them.

* * *

"Do you think that it's my fault?" she whispered in a hushed tone as if she was afraid that speaking louder would make him, or some other greater power, upset with her. "Because I do sometimes, I feel like I should have…"

"It's not your fault," Fleamont's grip around her painfully slim waist tightened and she could feel his breath against her ear. "I would never blame you and you shouldn't blame yourself either. Either we have a child or we won't. If we don't, it's going to hurt for a really long time but we will always have each other. Okay?"

Euphemia couldn't tell him that she doubted if she could ever move on from that kind of disappointment. So, she nodded and seconds later she felt a soft kiss being placed on her neck where her hair would normally hang in the way.

* * *

She often thought about those moments when it was hard being a parent. Because it was hard and it was frustrating. Sometimes she could easily deal with James not wanting to sleep at night but there were times when she thought about getting down on her hands and knees to beg him to sleep for only one night and then he wouldn't have to do it for the rest of his life if he didn't want to. But most of the time, all Euphemia experienced was a heartfelt joy that they had a child and most of the time she didn't mind the nightly chats.

 **The end**


End file.
